#rlly gonna start a kit rambles tag huh

[sageblogsthings]

some thoughts that no one asked for but i’m gonna say anyways

so not tryna call anyone out or anything i’ve seen this a lot on writeblr,,,but please y’all when you post writing advice make it explicit that it is advice, not fact. there are no objectively correct ways to write or not write something.

i’m getting a bit tired of seeing advice/writing tips/things to avoid/etc that are written like they need to be taken as gospel. i love seeing people’s opinions on how to tackle certain issues or write in a certain way, but please,,,i’m begging,,,recognize that any advice you give is inherently what works for you. it will not and should not work for everybody else.

and please for the love of everything do not equate a genuinely problematic trope with something that you personally do not like. if you don't like it, great, but please make it clear that it’s your opinion and not an actual issue with the source material. not doing this makes your point confusing at best and minimizes genuinely problematic and serious issues at worst.

and last thing, before u post stuff please consider the impact it will have on other writers, especially newer writers. i’m not saying that everything you post needs to benefit others in some way or offer solid advice, but i am saying that if you post writing advice as though it is the one right way to do something and do not clarify that it’s simply your preferred way to do something that can and will confuse writers who are still figuring out what works best for them.

i’ll give a silly example here just so my point is clear bc i’m a bit low on spoons today but let’s say that i post something that says “people should not write about cows because x, y, z” or i post something that says “here’s 10 steps on how to successfully write about cows.” those posts may be helpful to people who want to write about cows, they may be viewed as hot garbage and left to rot on tumblr dot com who knows, but at the end of the day both of these posts are my opinion. simply posting them as “here is how to write or not write about cows” implies that i am some expert on writing about cows and that there is not another way to do it. i know that a lot of people don’t mean it this way when they post lil “hot tips” like that so that’s why i’m giving the wacky cow example to hopefully make my point clear: if you do not explicitly say that a post is your opinion on how to write/not write something it will come across like you think that is the only way to write something. so with the cow example i could say “things to consider when writing about cows” or put a note at the top that says “this is just my opinion, based on my experience” something like that. i know that might seem trivial and useless to some (and i could write a whole separate post on that) but when you translate it to a writing post that says something like “10 steps on how to outline a novel” i think it’s hopefully clear how that can be very misleading and confusing to some writers. saying “10 steps i use to outline a novel” makes it much clearer that the you are posting is subjective, because yes at the end of the day all of your writing advice and tips and tricks, no matter how helpful you personally find them to be, are subjective. (yes!! even this post that i am writing right now is subjective!! i recognize that some people will disagree with it and that is totally fine and ok!!)

again, i am really not trying to vaguepost here i’ve just seen a handful of posts in the literal last two days i’ve been back on writeblr that have done this and it’s a bit unsettling. and while i could make a whole long post about all the problems in writeblr and blah blah i don’t have the time or energy and i really don’t wanna spread negativity. the entire point of me posting this is to call out negativity in posts that discourage people from writing things they enjoy for no good reason. i just want to encourage people to be mindful of the impact that their words have. your content is ultimately your own, but please consider the impact it will have on others and how it could be interpreted, that’s all i’m asking. <3

(and ofc if anyone has opinions on what i’ve written that they would like to share that is always always welcome on my blog as long as it’s done nicely)

ty lovely people for listening to my incoherent screeching as i was semi-collecting my thoughts to write this i ‘ppreciate chu

@avi-burton-writing @sirius-xthem @gutblood @alicewestwater

#kit chats #rlly gonna start a kit rambles tag huh